"I'm always impressed that East Lynne Theater productions run education and entertainment side by side. Their shows consistently enlighten and amuse - a rare combination that results in an uplifting experience." - Tom Sims for Exit Zero

HOLMES AND CARTER RADIO-STYLE MYSTERIES Before television, families huddled around the radio to listen to comedies and dramas. Since 2005, ELTC has been delighting audiences with Sherlock Holmes adventures performed in the style of the 1930’s NBC radio series, complete with live sound effects and commercials. Originally created to coincide with Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities' Sherlock Holmes Weekend in Cape May, requests were made to take them on the road. Adventures that have been offered are The Copper Beeches, The Speckled Band, The Blue Carbuncle, and The Norwood Builder. In 2013, a Nick Carter mystery was added to the Holmes adventure on the same night. The first Carter: The Strange Case of Dr. Devolo, the first Carter show that was aired in April 1943. In 2015, Nick Carter and the Voice of Crime was added to Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Red-Headed League.

From March 2018 through November 2019, ELTC is offering Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Speckled Band as the touring show.

In October, 1930, the Sherlock Holmes radio series began with The Speckled Band, adapted by Edith Meiser, who proposed the Holmes radio series to NBC. At first NBC passed on the idea for lack of a sponsor, so Meiser found one: G. Washington Coffee. Actors who played Holmes include Clive Brook, Richard Gordon, and Basil Rathbone. The Sherlock Holmes radio series continued through 1950. The scripts used by ELTC were written by Craig Wichman and Gayle Stahlhuth.Nick Carter first appeared in The Old Detective’s Pupil or The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square, written by John Russell Coryell, which was published in Street and Smith’s New York Weekly in 1886 – a year before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes’ first caper, A Study in Scarlet. Coryell wrote a total of three serializes Carter novels, keeping the series going through 1889. The series became so ﻿popular that in 1915, Nick Carter Weekly became Street and Smith’s detective story magazine. The books continued, written by a variety of people, from 1933-1990, with Carter changing with the times. In 1964, the series was known as Nick Carter-Killmaster to compete with James Bond. In April, 1943, the Nick Carter radio series was launched with The Strange Dr. Devolo, and lasted through 1955 with only one actor playing Carter: The scripts used by ELTC are the original scripts, used with permission by Conde Nast.

"Thank you for the magnificent performance of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. The feedback that I got from the residents was amazing and they loved the performance! Thank you for bringing it to the Home." - Jordan Strohl, Administrator, The Lillian Booth Actors Home, Englewood, NJ“This excellent group brings Holmes to life!” - Ocean City Sentinel (NJ)

﻿PAUL ROBESON THROUGH HIS WORDS AND MUSIC Written by Gayle Stahlhuth, and performed by Derrick McQueen, Paul Robeson Through His Words and Music is an interweaving of two dozen songs that were sung by Robeson, with a narrative of his life as an actor, singer, activist, and humanitarian. Venues where he has performed Paul Robeson include Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, NJ, at the Wildwood Convention Center for an NAACP Fundraising event, The Puffin Foundation in Teaneck, NJ, North Carolina Stage Company in Asheville, and the Newark PAC. First performed in Cape May in 2006, it returned as an ELTC mainstage production in 2010 due to popular demand.

Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was born to a former slave, the Rev. William Robeson. At Rutgers University he was a twelve-letter athlete, and graduated valedictorian in 1919. While in NYC attending Columbia University, he came in contact with people in the theater, which led to leads in plays written by Eugene O’Neill and an international career on stage and in film. Robeson believed in the universality of music and that by performing African-American spirituals and other cultures’ folk songs, he could promote intercultural understanding. ﻿

Derrick McQueen, due to a Dodge Foundation Grant, was the Playwright in Residence at South Jersey Regional Theatre, where his play I Have Been Said to Possess was produced. He's acted with the New York Theatre Workshop, Mabou Mines, Totem Pole Playhouse, and sung at the Cape May Jazz Festival. The characterizations and concerts that he has created based on historical African-Americans, include the journalist Alfred P. Smith, Congressman George White, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Derrick took part in the NYC's Culture Project's X-Impact on the Gulf production of Voices of the Storm, life stories from the Mississippi Delta and Louisiana from those impacted by hurricane Katrina.Derrick is a recent graduate of Union Theologial Seminary and now serves as an Interim Pastor at St. James Presbyterian Church in Harlem. He is also the Assistant Director of Community Partnerships for the Center on African American Research, Sexual Politics and Social Justice (CARSS) at Columbia University. All in all, Derrick is a man with many passions, joys, academic interests and a love of humankind.

“Derrick's presentation of Paul Robeson was a great success. Attendees were truly appreciative of Derrick's gifts and energy. Many people were shocked to learn of the viciousness of Robeson's treatment by his own government and perhaps even more shocked that they hadn't ever heard of Paul Robeson when they thought of themselves as well educated people -- and they are!” - D'Etta Leach, Volunteer for Homeward Bound; this performance at North Carolina Stage Company in Asheville was a fundraiser for this cause

﻿"Thank you for sharing your special talents at the Puffin Cultural Forum. Your presence here has helped to deepen our experience of the arts and culture, reflecting the premise of the Foundation's motto: continuing the dialogue between art and the lives of ordinary people." - Perry Rosenstein, President, The Puffin Foundation Ltd.

FABULOUS FERBER Written and Performed by Gayle Stahlhuth. It's 1938 and Edna Ferber's publisher has asked her to write an ﻿autobiography﻿. As she recalls her life, from the balcony of her NYC apartment, she discovers, and so does the audience, that her life is well worth recording. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author (So Big) and Broadway playwright (The Royal Family and Dinner at Eight with George S. Kaufman, etc.), was also a journalist, short-story writer, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. Jerome Kern adapted her novel Show Boat into the famous musical, and she numbered Helen Hayes, Katherine Hepburn, and Moss Hart among her friends. Originally commissioned by the Illinois and Missouri Humanities Councils for the Heartland Chautauqua Circuit, Stahlhuth was even asked to perform it as part of the Edna Ferber new-stamp issue ceremony at Appleton, WI. Length: 35 minutes to a full-two act.

“Fabulous Ferber fabulous!” - Ocean City Sentinel (NJ)​

MAGIC, a popular act on the vaudeville circuit, is still popular today. Actor/magician Robert Aberdeen delights audiences of all ages with his sleight-of-hand. Performances include selections from The Oldest Illusion in the History of Magic: "The Cups and Balls" and The Second Oldest Illusion: "The Mystery of the Silver Rings." Robert has performed his show throughout the country.

Robert Aberdeen is a veteran of five Broadway shows: The Passion of Joseph D, the original Fiddler on the Roof, Billy Budd, Royal Hunt of the Sun, and Citizen Tom Paine. He's also performed in Off-Broadway shows and in regional theater including ELTC where he was in Spoon River, Women and the Vote, and The Dictator. He starred in the international tour of The Magic Show and in his own television special Magic Maestro Please. His film work includes playing Attorney General Herbert Bromnell, speaking to President Eisenhower played by Robin Williams, in The Butler. On television, he was a regular on the daytime serial, Love of Life.

“Aberdeen shines . . he has stage charisma that establishes a rapport with the audience." - Cape May Gazette

SOMEONE MUST WASH THE DISHES: An Anti-Suffrage SatireWritten by Marie Jenney Howe and performed by Michele LaRue It was originally published by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (precursor of the League of Women Voters.)

“Woman suffrage is the reform against nature,” declares Howe’s unlikely, but likable, heroine. Howe, a pro-suffragist, wrote her Anti-Suffrage Monologue in 1912—eight years before women at last won the vote. Her fictional speaker is a charming, guileless enthusiast who sincerely believes that her efforts as a “womanly woman” will keep the Home intact—and save the Nation from anarchy. “Ladies, get what you want. Pound pillows. Make a scene. Make home a hell on earth—but do it in a womanly way! That is so much more dignified and refined than walking up to a ballot box and dropping in a piece of paper!” This has been performed at libraries, in schools and museums and for various women's organizations throughout the country.

Michèle has worked in numerous NJ theaters including Tri-State Theatre, New Jersey Rep, the Bickford Theatre, Centenary Stage, and ELTC, which was founded by her late husband, Warren Kliewer. She is a member of AEA, SAG, and AFTRA, and as a theatre editor-writer, of Drama Desk.

"Michele LaRue is all innocence when stating that if women were awarded suffrage,they'd have no impact on the vote, anyway." The Newark Star-Ledger (NJ)

﻿EVE’S DIARY Adapted and performed by Gayle Stahlhuth, it recounts the adventures of Adam and Eve as written by Mark Twain. Life IS difficult to figure out without a dictionary! From trying to figure out what Adam was when she first saw him, to naming the animals, to taking a bite out of the apple, to life after the Fall, Eve lovingly recorded it all. Length can vary from 15 to 40 minutes. Performance locations include The One-Woman Festival at One Dream Theater in NYC and the American Quilters' Society's annual show in Paducah, KY.

“Diary abounds with wit and charm.” - The Tribeca Trib (NYC) ﻿

VAUDEVILLE! James Rana performs a delightful mix of comedy, juggling, creating balloon animals, and magic. AND he is also a stilt walker known for leading the Mermaid Parade every year at Coney Island! He has performed for ELTC fundraisers and taught theater and juggling workshops in Cape May for ELTC's after-school programs, in-school programs, and for special ELTC workshops held at The First Presbyterian Church for ages 10-90..

James Rana's credits: ELTC: Huckleberry Finn (playwright), Zorro! (playwright/performer), The Poe Mysteries (playwright/performer), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (playwright), Strictly Dishonorable,The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, and Detectives Holmes and Carter. OTHER THEATER: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Pan Asian Rep, Comedysportz NY, Royal Shakespeare Co. (UK), Worth Street Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Globe Neuss and Bonn Biennale (Germany), Actors Shakespeare Company, Princeton Rep, Ocean Professional Theatre, Coney Island USA, Classical Theatre of Harlem. FILM/TELEVISION: Swim Little Fish Swim, The War Within, A Girl Like You With A Boy Like Me (Accolade Award), The Assassin, Looking For Pablo, Law & Order: SVU, One Life To Live, As The World Turns, Conan O'Brien, Third Watch, Chicago Fire. RADIO: Poe: A Celebration (wrote and narrated) for NPR. WRITING: So Long, Pluto (Camino Real Playhouse), From the Earth To The Moon (Workshop: Tri State Actors Theatre). James is the co-producing director of the Actors Shakespeare Company in Jersey City. Member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, The Dramatists Guild and The Players Club.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPERDirected and adapted by Warren Kliewer and performed by Michele LaRue. The Yellow Wallpaper is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s chilling indictment of 19th-century medicine. And one of the finest horror stories ever penned. Gilman’s story has been applauded by feminists since its publication in 1891. A three-month-long idyll in the country, the detailed attentions of a loving husband—and a room hung with yellow wallpaper—propel a spirited new mother to the brink of madness. The Yellow Wallpaper continues to chill today’s readers, dazzling feminists and historians, mystery- and horror-story enthusiasts alike, with its wit, suspense, and superlative style. This has performed at libraries, in schools and museums and for various women's organizations throughout the country.

Michèle has performed in numerous NJ theaters including Tri-State Theatre, New Jersey Rep, the Bickford Theatre, Centenary Stage, and ELTC, which was founded by her late husband, Warren Kliewer. She is a member of AEA, SAG, and AFTRA, and as a theatre editor-writer, of Drama Desk.

​LOU: The Remarkable Miss Alcott﻿ Written and Performed by Gayle Stahlhuth. It is the fall of 1871 in Louisa ​May Alcott’s Boston apartment. As she reads her mail and packs for a trip to Europe, Louisa talks to the audience about her life as a philosopher's daughter, Civil War nurse, and writer of short stories and novels, including Little Women. The script is taken from the letters, diaries, and stories of the famous author. Length can be 35 minutes to a full-two act. It's been performed at numerous places including The Smithsonian Institution, The Arvada Center in Denver, CO, and at The School of Philosophy behind Orchard House, one of the Alcott's home in Concord, MA.

"Last night's performance of Lou was like an evening with an old friend . . . The portrayal moved the audience from laughter to tears." - The Riverton Ranger (WY)​

﻿AUNT HATTIE’S HOUSE Written and Performed by Emma Palzere-Rae. Spend a lovely evening with Harriet Beecher Stowe, who speaks of her life, her new home, and what drove her - a working mother in the 19th century, to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

In 2000, Emma premiered Aunt Hattie's House in the Missouri Humanities Council's touring Civil War Chautauqua, before presenting it in Cape May for ELTC as part of the double-bill titled The Beecher Sisters, in which Gayle Stahlhuth premiered her own one-woman A Trunk Without a Label about Catharine Beecher. Emma's more than 20-year career incorporates working in all areas of professional theater including performance, artistic administration, playwrighting and producing. She founded Be Well Productions in 1989, bringing one-woman historical portrayals to schools, libraries and community organizations. She is the director of development for the Women's Center of Southeastern Connecticut.“Harriet is grandly portrayed by Emma Palzere-Rae." - Ed Wismer, critic for Cape May Star and Wave﻿

TALES OF THE VICTORIANS, one of ELTC's popular events for over 25 years, goes beyond the usual Cape May schedule of Thursdays in the summer and Saturdays in the fall, and have been booked by libraries, schools, museums, other theaters, and private homes for a variety of special occasions, entertaining all ages. A member of ELTC reads an American classic tale. Favorite writers are O. Henry, Mark Twain, Edna Ferber, Dorothy Parker, and Edgar Allan Poe. Pictured here is James Rana performing for a group at a library in Barnegat, NJ.

“The Bret Harte story was one more warmth-producing Yule log on the holiday fire.” - Cape May Star and Wave

CHRISTMAS STORIES, adapted and performed in storytelling fashion (memorized, not read) by Gayle Stahlhuth, who brings 30 plus characters to life during one performance. These shows have become a Holiday Tradition in Cape May and on the road. Here are a sample of the Christmas tales she's premiered, although there are others by Mark Twain, Edward Everett Hale, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Bret Harte, and Frank R. Stockton as well:

CHRISTMAS IN WISCONSIN: TALES BY ZONA GALE Gayle portrays the storyteller, Calliope Marsh, who lived in Friendship Village, Wisconsin her whole life. In Human, while waiting in line at the post office to mail off her Christmas presents, she discovers that a seven-year-old boy doesn't have the money to visit his mother who’s in a hospital in another town. In The Great Tree, she is determined to see to it that the tree in the center of town is lit with electric lights for Christmas Eve in 1912. Zona Gale was known for her short stories and her novel, Miss Lulu Bett, that she adapted for the stage. While on Broadway in 1922, it received the Pulitzer Prize.

THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUSFrom L. Frank Baum, the man who gave us The Wizard of Oz, comes this charming tale about Claus’s life, from his early years to how he became immortal. Baum gave Claus an exciting life that evokes all the charm, warmth, and fantasy that made his "Oz" stories American classics. He took Claus out of his conventional trappings, and placed him into the world of folklore, complete with fairies, gnomes, and elves. In fact, it is because of Baum’s book, that Santa Claus is believed to have elves to help him. When ELTC produced this one-person tour-de-force in 2010, it was designated an “American Masterpiece” as part of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Masterpieces Series. (2010 was the final year of this 3-year series.)

O. HENRY'S CHRISTMAS STORIESStories include Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking, about a hobo who traveled from NYC to Louisiana and end up preventing a catastrophe. In Christmas by Injunction, a kind-hearted miner wants all the children in town to meet Santa Claus and receive presents. One problem: there are no children in the town of Rough-and-Ready. Also included is perhaps the greatest American Christmas tale of all time, The Gift of the Magi, about a young married couple very much in love.

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT'S CHRISTMAS Tales include the first two chapters of Little Women in which the famous sisters, Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy, give their Christmas breakfast to a poor family, present gifts to Marmee, perform a play Louisa wrote, meet the new neighbors, and receive a letter from their father who is a minister in the Civil War. How It All Happened is about people in a boarding house helping two little girls celebrate Christmas, and in Tessa's Surprises, a well-to-do family helps an immigrant family from Italy. The spirits of the bells in different church steeples gather every Christmas Eve to discuss how the year has been in the thoughtful and poignant What the Bells Saw and Said.

"Stahlhuth is an absolute delight, bringing Christmas cheer to the audience as she switches from one characterization to the other. Her performance is one of the highlights of the theater season in Cape May." - Jacob Schaad, critic for The Cape May Gazette

“Stahlhuth mesmerizes audiences as she moves seamlessly from character to character.” - Catherine Dugan, Exit Zero

ELTC's programs are made possible in part through funding from The NJ State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of The National Endowment for the Arts, The NJ Department of State, Division of Travel and Tourism, the generosity of our Season Partners, and the generosity of many patrons.